"Scottish Snippets"

"Colour Supplement"

17 May 2008

The Rampant Scotland Newsletter includes a number of photographs which illustrate the weather and the seasons, plus the flora and fauna of the current week around Scotland. This separate "colour supplement" displays some more pictures, in a larger format. Here is this week's crop of Scottish views!


This rhododendron at Glendoick Gardens in Perthshire is full of surprises as its reddish buds open to reveal apricot flowers with an orange tinge at the edges. This is one of scores of beautiful rhododendrons at Glendoick House, not only in the formal garden, but also in the extensive woodland walk area.


There are a number of varieties of Trillium (Wood Lily) at Glendoick. This unusually dark one is Trillium Erectum which has gathered a number of "popular" names - including Birthroot, Lamb's Quarters and Wet Dog Trillium!


While attempting to take close-up photographs of Damselflies at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) reserve at Lochwinnoch in Renfrewshire, this one was most obliging and flew onto the back of my hand, where it posed for a few minutes while I took its portrait!


You would expect insects like Damselflies to be frightened by the approach of a camera lens, but fortunately they seem unaware of a camera less that two inches from them - despite those big eyes. So scary close-up photos like this are quite easy to take.


Abutilon flowers usually hang face-downwards from the branches, so it can be awkward angling the camera upwards to reveal the unusual deep red and black markings of this variety.





Mecanopsis are often a brilliant blue, but this pure white variety is one of a range of these lovely Himalayan flowers growing at the gardens at Glendoick. As with the Abutilon above, Mecanopsis flowers tend to point down to the ground and require some unusual positions of the camera!


The Mistle Thrush is larger than the more frequently seen Song Thrush and its speckles are made up of bigger spots. It is also much shyer than the Song Thrush and is rarely seen in suburban gardens. This one was photographed in the countryside north of Glasgow.


The recent warmer weather has produced a surge in the development of many flowers, including this brilliant, golden-yellow Azalea. It is one of many Azaleas (and Rhododendrons) in the gardens of Finlaystone Country Estate in Inverclyde at this time of year.

If you want to look back at earlier editions of this Colour Supplement, there is an Index Page





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